No Bravery
by sayuri-girl
Summary: A spell is cast. Naraku is stronger than ever and gets out in the open. A miko is thrown into despair and pain. There is no hope anymore, no light. An angst story inspired by the song "No Bravery".


_**AN: Hello. This is just something that popped into my head after more than a year of having author's block so I thought that since the muse asked it I should not infuriate her by not writing it. I am sorry for those of you that started reading "Fulfilling Destiny" and have waited for my update, but I had such a huge author's block. However I will start working on it soon. Thanks a bunch.**_

_**'words' = spoken words, conversation ... and if I get another flame because of using ' ... ' for conversation instead of " ... " saying it confuses you and you do not want to read it anymore, I beg of you to read my profile where I explain that it is not incorrect to use ' … ' for speech.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor do I own the lyrics of the song "No Bravery".

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She was lost. Oh she wasn't physically lost, no. If that were the case she would've had some hope left. She could have found her way back to her friends sooner or later. No she was psychically and emotionally lost. And what was worse, she was powerless. It had been a few weeks - two weeks, 5 days and 6 hours to be precise - since Kikyo has shown up and put a spell on her. They did not understand it at fist. She said no word, just chanted something and then left.

They understood, however, when Naraku appeared some days later. She knew something was wrong, even before he showed up. She felt her powers being drained. The pieces of the Shikon were not as clear and bright as before Kikyo has made an appearance. But the vile hanyou has explained it all. He had found an old scroll describing a spell that could be cast by a miko upon another one; the only condition was that these two had to be connected in some way. And the two were: they shared the same soul.

Now, many days later, she was literally powerless. Kikyo has drained all her miko powers and the jewel in her possession has been tainted. Kagome was no fool: she knew that a person's soul contained both evil and purity, both darkness and light. No person was entirely pure, not even a miko. What makes a person pure is the choice of following the light. Midoriko also had to choose. Kagome however had no more possibility at choosing. Her light had been put out. She walked in a sea of darkness. And now her half of the jewel was tainted also; tainted by her despair, by her darkness. Naraku needed no more her shards. It didn't matter if she had them or not. With both halves tainted, the jewel was more powerful. With the jewel stronger, Naraku grew more powerful.

To render the spell useless, the caster had to be killed. To kill the caster, Inuyasha had to step on his heart and fight against his love for Kikyo. Kagome was not stupid, she knew he would never go against her and kill her. They had several encounters with the walking clay pot, more than two occasions to put her out of her misery, but the hanyou had not allowed his pack to fight her. Actually he had out flat leapt between the undead priestess and Hiraikotsu, protecting her. There was no more hope for Kagome, no more light. And still the dog-eared hanyou dragged them after Naraku, claiming that by killing him they would break the spell.

The group was following the trail of miasma the dark half-breed left behind him. All that was left was destruction: the grass and trees withered, the animals were either dead or had fled from the area he has passed through. It wasn't until they reached the first village that they really shivered in horror.

The huts had been attacked by the poison and were in different stages of disintegration. Bodies were littered all over the ground, blood everywhere. It seemed that the hanyou was in a blood lust. There were those that had escaped. Somehow he had allowed survivors and the group could only guess why: to speak of the terror, to spread the news of a new Master, the only and the most powerful one.

_There are children standing here,  
Arms outstretched into the sky,  
Tears drying on their face.  
He has been here._

They had helped the few remaining ones to bury the dead ones and Miroku spent the entire day saying prayers at every villager's tomb. Children, mothers, fathers, old men. The hanyou did not spare any that was in his way.

_Brothers lie in shallow graves.  
Fathers lost without a trace.  
A nation blind to their disgrace  
Since he's been here._

Kagome has turned her eyes from the massacre, or at least she tried. Despair, angst and terror were everywhere. She could not escape them outwardly, nor could she inwardly. She was drowning. Her happy smiles were no longer on her lips. All that showed now were broken ones, fear filled ones. Fear of what would happen to her, what would happen to the Feudal Japan. Her eyes were pained and dead to the world. No spark of her fire could be seen in them. There could not be; after all that had been extinguished once her light had been put out. She was left in a sea of anguish, despair, hatred, horror and nightmares. She was dead to the outward world.

They have left the scene after Miroku was finished with the prayers and moved some more into the now dead forest. They reached a little clearing that was off Naraku's path and escaped from his miasma and they settled for the night. She has taken out her sleeping bag and lay down. She would not help with the camp anymore; she would not eat unless a plate of food would be put in her hands. Even about hot springs and baths she wasn't responsive anymore. She was _dead_. She ate some from the plate Sango has given her and then allowed darkness to consume her and nightmares to torture her.

Her friends were at a loss as to what to do to snap her out of it. They knew that the spell could be broken only with Kikyo's death, but unless Inuyasha allowed them to kill her, they could do nothing. Shippou was crying and screaming for his oka-san, Sango was pained by her dear sister's lack of response and Miroku was worried for her life. He could not sense her reiki anymore and was horrified to have felt every change she has gone through with every passing day since that faithful afternoon. Inuyasha was the only one unaffected by Kagome's unresponsiveness. He was just plain old Inuyasha: the same brash, foul mouthed and insensitive half-breed.

The night passed in an eerie stillness. As morning came, the group has cleared camp and took to trailing Naraku once more. Before they reached another village however, they ran into Sesshoumaru. He claimed to have been hunting the dark half-breed. Inuyasha has jumped at the opportunity to fight his brother but he was quickly thrown to the nearest tree by the Lord of the Western Lands; apparently he was in no mood to fool around today. He turned cold, calculating eyes on the once miko, wishing to speak with her, but the change he had seen, felt and smelt in her made him narrow them in fury.

'Miko.' he called to her. She raised her eyes from the ground and, for the first time since the spell, locked gazes with him.

_And I see no bravery,  
No bravery in your eyes anymore.  
Only sadness._

'What is the meaning of this?' he asked of the two humans.

'Kikyo has put a spell on her. Since then she has been robbed of her powers and the Shikon piece she holds has been tainted. She has no will to live anymore." Sango said, her voice a broken whisper.

'Why did you not kill the undead one?'

'Inuyasha is fiercely protective of her. He has put himself in-between her and my Hiraikotsu many a time thus far.' Sango continued speaking, sending a bone-chilling glare to the hanyou.

'Keh. There is nothing wrong with her. Once Naraku is dead she will be fine.' Inuyasha said.

'Miko, I wished to speak with you.' he addressed her one more time. 'This Sesshoumaru thinks it is better if your group joins with mine. What say you miko?' She did not respond. Her gaze was still locked with his and the only sign of her hearing his question was her blinking a few times. Then she lowered her head once again and was lost to her inner darkness.

'I believe it is the best idea Sesshoumaru-sama. It would be better if we joined forces.' Miroku responded. Sango and Shippou nodded vehemently and even Kirara mewed her acceptance. At this, Sesshoumaru lifted a questioning brow.

'Kirara has taken to protect Kagome since the spell was put on her. She is quite fond of her and fiercely protective. I have never seen her like this.' Sango said with warmth in her voice, clearly thankful to the feline youkai.

'No fucking way is he joining us. We do great without him. The bastard can hunt Naraku down on his own.'

At the cold glares he received from Sango, Miroku and Shippou, he shut his mouth. He wasn't a fool. He knew they would cast him off the pack if he continued speaking and yelling. Better to go with their plans … for now at least.

Once everything was in order, Sesshoumaru whistled and the two-headed dragon Ah-Un came flying towards them. He landed next to its master and waited. Rin, the human child that traveled with the full-blooded youkai, and Jaken the toad, were situated on the dragon. Once they were told of the temporary truce between the two groups, they started walking again. Inuyasha was in front, sniffing out for any dangers. Miroku and Sango were walking behind him, Shippou perched on the monk's shoulder. Next came Ah-Un with its precious load - meaning Rin of course - and at the back walked Kagome with Kirara comfortably sitting on the girl's shoulder. It was next to the once miko that Sesshoumaru has opted to walk. Every so often he would look from the corner of his eyes at the silent girl. The waves of pain, suffering and misery hit him like water hitting the shores during a heavy storm.

It was mid-afternoon when they reached another village and by the looks of it, it was no more different than the previous one.

_Houses burnt beyond repair.  
The smell of death is in the air.  
A woman weeping in despair says  
He has been here._

_Tracer lighting up the sky.  
It's another family's turn to die.  
A child afraid to even cry out says  
He has been here._

Sesshoumaru looked at the girl again. He saw the sorrow in her eyes, the pity for the villagers and the gloom grow and intensify. However, it was when he grasped her by the neck, claws threatening to rip her head off, that he truly saw her soul in her eyes. And it was as black as the hanyou's they were hunting down.

_And I see no bravery,  
No bravery in your eyes anymore.  
Only sadness._

He dropped her to the ground in the middle of the once village, next to the wailing children. It was a miracle they had survived, but from what they had gathered, they were not in the village when Naraku has arrived.

_There are children standing here,  
Arms outstretched into the sky,  
But no one asks the question why,  
He has been here._

_Old men kneel to accept their fate.  
Wives and daughters cut and raped.  
A generation drenched in hate.  
Says, he has been here._

Inuyasha had run off to Kami knows where, Sango, Miroku and Shippou started burring the dead and Kagome staid put with Sesshoumaru next to her. Needless to say that Ah-Un has stayed behind with Rin and Jaken at the demon's order. She was not to be shown such a horrific picture.

_And I see no bravery,  
No bravery in your eyes anymore.  
Only sadness._

It was late in the night when they left the village for the nearby vegetation. Following Inuyasha, they reached a small comfortable clearing where they settled, exhausted, to sleep immediately. The next day they started anew early in the morning. Late morning they ran into Kikyo. She had decided to stop by and see how her reincarnation was fairing. She was pleased to feel her despair and her tainted jewel; she was not happy, however, by the new addition to the group.

'What is it you seek here, abomination?' Sesshoumaru asked in a bored voice.

'I came to see my copy. Soon now …'

'Soon what?' It was Sango's voice that was heard now. But the shell did not respond, just burst out into a hollow laugh. Sango released her Hiraikotsu and launched it, but Inuyasha beat it to Kikyo and just jumped her out of the way.

'Sango! I told you to stop it.' he yelled.

'The undead abomination deserves to die. She is stealing your living miko's powers and awaits for her demise, which will be soon, so she can steal her soul also.'

Gasps could be heard from the humans and the young fox demon. Inuyasha did not even flinch at the idea of Kagome being on the verge of death. He did bristle however at Sesshoumaru's accusation of his pure and loving Kikyo.

'Inuyasha, if you do not send the spawn back to hell, I will do it.' Sesshoumaru said. At his words he caught a small flicker in Kagome's eyes. It happened so quickly that someone else would've doubted they saw it, but he wasn't the most powerful demon alive for no reason.

'Bastard, you stay fucking out of this. It is none of your fucking concern.'

'You are mistaken half-breed. The miko is my concern.' Sesshoumaru replied and unsheathed his sword. Inuyasha released the clay-pot and stood in front of her so he could protect her.

'You will not harm her.' he yelled. Sesshoumaru sent a blast of power from his sword and waited for Inuyasha to jump out of the way so he may let the miko unprotected. But the hanyou was no fool. He released Tessaiga and deflected it.

Sesshoumaru caught another flicker in the miko's eyes from the corner of his own and smirked. He sent another, more powerful blast in Kikyo's direction, who has moved a bit to the side so she could string her bow and fire. But before Inuyasha could have time to jump in-between the undead corpse and the attack a whisper escaped Kagome's lips. It was so lowly spoken that everyone but the dog demon missed it.

'Sit.' And amazingly Inuyasha was pulled face first to the ground with such a strong hold that it took him twice the time to escape from the binding. That however left the clay pot defenseless and unprotected, the attack hitting her full force and blasting her out of existence.

As soon as the word escaped her lips, Sesshoumaru turned his golden gaze fully on her blue one. And again a flicker appeared in the dead orbs. And now he recognized it.

Hope.

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_**AN: So I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think about it ... it is my first try at an Angst story so ...**_

_**Read and Review.**_

_**I have finally got a chance to return to this story and correct the small misspells. I am sorry I left it like this for such a long time.**_

_**Ja ne.**_


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